May 4, 2018: Statement regarding air conditioning repair on the rapid

You are here

CLEVELAND -- We sincerely apologize for the discomfort and frustration you’ve experienced recently on the Rapid due to the lack of air conditioning. As you know, cooler temperatures stayed with us longer than usual, and rail car heaters were needed through last week. A day later the cars required air conditioning.

But, unfortunately, the 1970’s technology of our trains has no thermostatic controls. That means RTA staff have to manually reconfigure the HVAC system on each car - which takes a minimum of 48 hours.

Staff began this process of prepping the cars for air conditioning in February, however a few cars still remained without air conditioning last week. This, coupled with the fact that single-car trains are crowded, made for very uncomfortable rides for our customers. We are sorry for the inconvenience and ask for your patience while we complete the work.

As of today, 95% of the Red Line cars and 87% of the Blue and Green Line cars have been transitioned to air conditioning.

Again, please accept our sincerest apologies for any inconvenience and discomfort that this may have caused you, and thank you for continuing to choose to ride with us.